Plein air Activities

I've been outside working on some plein air paintings. Dodge Nature center property in Mendota Heights and historic Sibley in Mendota. Acrylic on paper and on 11x14 birch panel.

Itching to creatively remodel our kitchen

Interior design is another area where good design sense and production skills pays dividends.

I had the unique opportunity to remodel my kitchen this year. We welcomed the challenge since for years I was itching to replace the old cabinets and workflow. Launching into several layout sketches with my wife, we settled on a simple solution of solid cherry cabinets over white backgrounds with black accents.

For workflow changes, we chopped down a constricting peninsula and moved the dishwasher from blocking access to the refrigerator. I built a custom cabinet to hold the much better placed dishwasher. BTW, we highly, highly recommend the Bosch SHX3AR75UC dishwasher. There are several models by Bosch that get the top score from Consumer Report. It delivers... and we've run it most every day for 2 years.

All the carpentry, plumbing and electrical work I completed myself, although I was assisted by curated professionals on YouTube. The reward was immense. We saved a bunch of cash, kept the old kitchen functioning as I made the improvements, and solved long-standing workflow issues with an elegant design. This large scale and time-consuming project is not for everybody, but it proves thoughtful designs integrated with practical skills add value.

New workflow, floor, cabinets, outlets, sink and counter-tops, plumbing and still needs a new stove.

Angelic Twaddle™ Comic Book Design

One of the latest creative projects I'm working on is designing my two books of Angelic Twaddle Comics. Amazon and digital sales has impacted book design since often small thumbnails images are what the buying audience see first. So the challenge is to create a book cover that reads well and generates interest both very small and in the full-size printed scale.

There are many good sources available on Google for general guidelines of book design... but what I centered on was a 3-part objective. The three goals I aimed for are... 1) bright complementary colors divided into pleasing % of values/tones; 2) a single readable word "Comic" (even when shrunk down), and 3), presenting an actual comic on the cover so the audience knows that these are hand-rendered comics not computer generated animations.

Angelic Twaddle™ is my niche comic series about guardian angels and life.  Louis is the author, illustrator, and self-publisher of Angelic Twaddle™ Comics.

Interior Furniture Designs

Over the years I've enjoyed making most of our home furniture. Thankfully my wife gives me plenty of freedom to try some unique designs, although she ultimately holds veto power. Here is an example of a coffee table I made from oak harvested on my child-hood family property in northern MN and presented with all its flaws and natural beauty with a clear matte sealing finish. The black steel legs are USA made from Amazon.

A variety of old drawers and their unique handles serve as pull-out storage areas.

Childhood Art At Home

While cleaning through my basement, I came across some artwork I created as a kid. My parents provided a very creative environment that was conducive for me and my siblings to draw, paint, sculpt, sew clothes, cook, bake, build tree houses. I'm very grateful for those times and tried to impart that atmosphere for my children. 

The first one, from 1979, is an acrylic painting that is based on a National Geographic wildlife photo. Below that is a watercolor I created in 1980 of a grouse, pheasant and turkey. The sketch is from 1978 and I was about 14 years old.

Good design (beauty) is a perpetual motion machine

Here at Ergotron, since unveiling our new brand identity in January, we’ve taken steps to modernize and align the look and tone of all our internal and external assets globally. This includes our website, catalogs, business cards, trade show presence and more. The critical path in this process was a new master logo (designed and guided by the excellent team at F&N), update of sub brand logos, new brand style guides, new photography and video... and the tone of our communications.

In addition, we’ve made a commitment to our visibility here in the Twin Cities, through making our company headquarters building a true representation of our refreshed brand.

Good design has unified and amplified our vision amongst our employees and partners... and helped us increase profits. This sounds like a simple equation, and yes, the hard-work behind the scenes is often less appreciated, but I am a believer more than ever in the power of design. It may be the closest thing to a perpetual motion machine; once good design or beauty is input into a project that is shared with others, over time, usually it outputs more creative energy-power-beauty than was originally input.

Over generations, when we encounter world-class and time-less architecture, beautifully composed music, a well-crafted story or a master painting, it stirs within us an appreciation and creative-inspiration-energy. 

Do I dare say that true beauty, especially when found in monumental art pieces of music and architecture, almost calls humans to transcend base things and create a culture that lifts up the positive and gives hope?

NOTE: Here is an updated article on this topic shared on LinkedIn by Louis in 2025.

Managing Design, Function and Look & Feel

There are few marketing areas that maintain as sophisticated and refined design standards as the contract furniture world. The architects and designers run the show and have proven a successful model with their balance of function and design. At Ergotron, my employer, we have launched a new product line into this space and have sought to not only reach the design standards but also introduce function and benefits unmet in this market with sit-stand movement. Take a peek.

https://www.ergotron.com/contract

Sculptures

Raw wood, finished lumber, wild clay, pottery clay, oil-based clay, tin-foil, paper, you name it I've tried to make something 3-dimensional with it. Below is a pic of a 4-foot tall white oak, Mother and Child sculpture I created back in the early 90s. I used a chain saw to rough it out then chiseled the details. I put a light coat of clear exterior oil on it.

Curiosity and Tools

A foundational element that leads to creativity is good ole curiosity. It is fairly self-explanatory and others write about this topic extensively, http://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-curiosity-hungry-mind-marilyn-price-mitchell

Ad agencies and creative groups acknowledge this role and often look for signs of this "curiosity" in new hires.

In addition to curiosity, another broad factor for creativity is learning new crafts and tool skills. Today's refreshing emphasis on tinkering with hand-tools, as found in the maker movement, steampunk and the DIY hacker push.... all of which is fueled by youtube videos ... is brilliant. I've always been jealous of the variety of tools the farm kids had access to, like welders, tractors and hydraulic machines and wood and metal shops.

The more we learn and immerse ourselves in new and fresh topics the more we are equipped to ponder and create.

Here is a photo of one of my kids creating electricity.

National Campaign?

In my stream of FaceBook Posts from my goofy friends I came across this hilarious photo. It touched my funny bone by its creativity and narrative. I find it zings the over emphasis on modern-america's perfect bodies... while countering it with the less-stress let-live lifestyle of some folks. I think a variation on this could be a national ad campaign... if it's not already.

Creativity according to A. Einstein

Not sure who to give credit to for this image, I've seen it
posted all over the internet and I like the message.